Around 6 p.m., state police and firefighters from East Wallingford, Mount Holly and Shrewsbury responded to a portion of Route 103 north of Mac’s Market in East Wallingford and south of the village of Cuttingsville when afternoon rains triggered a mudslide that descended down the hills on the east side of the highway.

Exactly what triggered the mudslide was unclear Tuesday night. The Mill River, which runs parallel to Route 103 was swollen and muddy following afternoon showers, but for Art Seward, chief of the East Wallingford Fire Department, the incident was both unheard of and immediately inexplicable.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Seward, who has resided in the area for 49 years. “There’s a possibility there was a beaver dam or something up there that just broke loose with all the rain.”

On the north side of Route 103, state police detoured motorists trying to travel south onto Route 7B to Route 140 in Wallingford. Travelers heading north out of Mount Holly on Route 103 were detoured to Route 140 and back out onto Route 7.

By 7:30 p.m., a heavy equipment operator for the state Agency of Transportation had removed enough bucket loads of mud the road for it to be reopened to traffic.